Sewing machine



4 Sheets-Shet 1 w. T. LEONARD SEWING MACHINE Filed June 1l. 1938 Feb. 4, 1941.

INVENTOR WML/4M T. LEON/Leo 4%@ MATTORNE 5 w. T. LEONARD 2,230,496

SEWING MACHINE .-iled June ll, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 mvENToR WML/,QM T. E0/Vaneo AT1-ORN Ys Feb. 4, 1941.

W. T. LEONARD SEWING MACHINE Feb. 4, 1941.

`Fileduune 11, 19:58 4 sheets-sheet s lNvEN-roR W/LL mM 7 EGA/AED Mmm Feb. 4, 1941. w T, LEGNARD 2,230,496

SEWING MACHINE Filed une ll,r 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 atented Feb. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES SEWING MACHINE William T. Leonard, Reading, Pa., assigner to S.

Liebovitz & Sons, Inc., Myerstown, Pa., a corporation of New York Application June 11, 1938, Serial No. 213,150

1l) Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in sewing machines and has particular reference to a shirring mechanism therefor.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved shirring mechanism of simple and practical construction wherein the shirring member which cooperates with a needle of the machine in forming gathers or plaits in a fabric being stitched may, at the will of the operator, be adjusted into and out of operative position without interrupting the stitching operations of the needle.

Another object is to support the operating mechanism for the shirring member below the bed plate of the sewing machine, and to utilize the feed lift shaft which assists in the control of the fabric feeding mechanism to operate said shirring member, thereby obtaining synchronous action between the operations of the needle and the shirring member.

The above and other objects will appear more clearly from the following detailed descriptions when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the inventive idea.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a top plan view, partly broken away, of the bed plate of a sewing machine, showing the shirring mechanism mounted in p0- sition thereon and in association with the needle and presser foot of the sewing machine, said presser foot being illustrated in section.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan View of the operating mechanism for the shirring member, with said mechanism coupled to one of the shafts which control the fabric feeding mechanism of the machine. l

Figure 3 is a front elevation, partly broken away and shown in section, of the shirring mechanism in its inoperative position.

Figure 4 is a section substantially on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1 illustrating the shirring mechanism in its operative position.

Figure 5 is an end elevation illustrating the shirring member in full lines in its inoperative position.

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6--6 o-f Fig. 1, and,

Figure 7 is a section on the line 'I-'l of Fig. 2.

The invention is illustrated in its application to a standard type of single needle, lock stitch machine with only so much of the latter shown as is necessary to a complete understanding of the construction and operation of the yshirring 55 mechanism. Thus, the bed plate of the machine is shown at I0 above which is mounted the needle II and the presser foot I2 beneath which the fabric is fed as it is being stitched. The fabric feeding mechanism conventionally illustrated at I3 is controlled in the usual manner from the 5 shafts I4 and I5 the latter of which is termed the rocking lift shaft that controls, in accordance with the present invention, the operation of the shirring mechanism.

Said mechanism comprises a shirring member 10 or blade I6 mounted for oscillatory movement above the bed plate I0 in cooperative relation with the needle II of the machine, the forward end of said blade having a slight downward curvature, as best shown in Fig. 5, and being dis- 15 posed, both in its operative and inoperative positions, beneath the toes of the presser foot I2. The rear end of the shirring blade is attached to a lateral extension I'I of a carrier I8 also disposed above the bed plate I0 and rockingly Asup- 20 ported intermediate its ends, as at I9, upon the upper end of an oscillatory carrier operating element 20 which extends vertically through the bed plate I0 and is pivotally mounted therein as at 2|. The blade I6 is urged toward its lowered 25 ory operative position by means of a spring 22 coiled at one end about the pivot I9 of the carrier I8 and engaged beneath the pin 23 at the rear end of said carrier. In order to maintain the shirring blade I6 in its raised or inoperative 30 position against the action of the spring 22 during periods when it is not desired to perform a shirring operation upon the fabric being stitched, there is provided a support for the forward end of the carrier I8 which is in the form of a pin 35 24 extending vertically through the bed plate I0 and slideably mounted therein so that its upper end will engage beneath the carrier I8 to maintain the same, and consequently the blade I6, in a raised position when said pin is elevated as 40 in Fig. 5. A release is provided for the supporting pin 24 in the form of a rocking lever 25 pivotally mounted at 26 on a bracket 21 depending beneath the bed plate Ill, with one end of said lever provided with a shoe 28 that engages the 45 lower end of the pin 24 to maintain it in the raised position thereof, as in Fig. 3, and to permit said pin to drop under the influence of the pressure of the spring 22 against the carrier I8, as in Fig. 4, when said lever 25 is rocked to its position in the latter figure as will appear in the course of the description. The lever 25 and pin 24 are yieldably held in their raised positions (Fig. 3) due to pressure produced by the coil spring 29 interposed between the bottom of the bed plate I0 and the upper edge of the lever 25, said spring being compressed by the lever when the latter is adjusted to the position of Fig. 4.

While the shirring blade I6 is in its raised or inoperative position, no motion is imparted thereto through the oscillating element 20, but when said blade is lowered to its operative position,v

said element 20 is rocked about its pivot 2| under the influence of a forked lever 30 pivoted at 3l to the underside of the bed plate I0 with the opposite forked end thereof receiving the collar 32 carried by the spherical lower end 33 of the operating element 20. During inactivity of the shirring blade I6 the lever 30 and consequently the oscillating element 20 remain stationary, but when said blade is thrown into operation by the rocking of the release lever 25 and consequent lowering of the supporting pin 24, movement of the lever 30 about its pivot end resultant oscillation of the element 20 is initiated simultaneously with the lowering of the blade I6 under the influence of the spring 22 so that said blade will be moved back and forth to form gathers or plaits in the fabric being stitched.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the shirring blade, through the medium of the oscillating element 20 and the lever 30, is governed from the shaft I5 which controls a portion of the operation of the fabric feeding mechanism I3, and by utilizing said shaft I5 it will be apparent that the shirring blade will at all times operate in synchronism with said mechanism I3 and the needle II to properly-stitch the gather or plait after it has been formed by the shirring blade. To this end, the rock shaft I5 has secured thereto a crank assembly generally indicated by the numeral 34 to one end of which is joined a connecting rod 35 having its other end connected to a universal pivot 36 for one end of a control member generally indicated by the numeral 31. This member is in the nature of an elongated plate suspended beneath the bed plate I8 of the machine by a bolt 38 the head of which is engaged in a socket intermediate the ends of the member 31 to provide a fixed fulcrum about which the member continuously oscillates under the inuence of the shaft I5 while the sewing machine is in operation. The undersurface of the member 31 has attached thereto, or formed therewith, spaced parallel guide strips 39 forming a groove 40 therebetween. At one end of said groove there is secured a fixed stop 4I and also mounted in said grove is an adjustablestop 42 which is movable longitudinally in the groove to various adjusted positions, the purpose of which will presently appear, and secured in its various positions by means of a bolt 43 which extends through an elongated slot 44. 'I'his adjustment of the movable stop 42 may also be accomplished by providing the plate 31 with a series of longitudinally spaced screw threaded openings each adapted to receive the shank of a fastening screw similar to the bolt 43. When the shirring blade has been adjusted to its operative position, the continuous oscillation of the control member 31 is designed to impart a similar movement to the lever 30 and operating element 20 through the medium of a transmission link 45 one end of which is connected to the lever 30 by a ixed pivot 45 while the other end of said link is provided with a pivot bearing 41 which extends into the groove 4U of the control member. When the shirring mechanism is out of oper-ation, the transmission link 45 assumes the full line position shown in Fig. 1 with the pivot bearing 41 coinciding with the axis of oscillation 38 of the control member 31, and is yieldably held in such position by means of a coil spring 48 one end of which is connected to an intermediate point of the link 45 while the other end is fastened to the undersurface of the bed plate I0. With the pivots 38 and 41 coinciding the continuous oscillation of the control member 31 has no effect upon the link 45 and consequently no movement will be imparted to the lever 30. However when said link 45 is thrown to the dotted line position of Fig. 1, and the full line position of Fig. 2, with the pivot bearing 41 engaging the adjustable stop 42 (Fig. '1) said pivot bearing will be oiset from the fulcrum 38 and oscillation of the member 31 will be translated into a reciprocating movement of the link 45 and a consequent oscillation of the lever 30 and operating member 20 to actuate the carrier I8 and shirring blade I6 back and forth to accomplish the shirring operation. The degree of reciprocation of the transmission element 45 and the resultant amount of movement of the shirring blade I6 necessary to make wider or narrower plaits or gathers in the fabric may be varied by adjusting the stop 42 to different positions longitudinally of the plate 31. Thus the nearer the stop 42 is to the stop 4| the lesser will be the degree of movement of the link 45 and consequently the amount of movement of the shirring blade I6 will be decreased to similarly proportion the width of the fold in the fabric.

'Ihe movement of the link 45 from its inoperative position to any one of its operative positions is also utilized to effect the release of the carrier I8 and its shirring blade from the inoperative to the operative position of the latter. This is accomplished by causing the link 45 to rock the lever 25 about its pivot so as to lower the shoe 28 so that the spring 22 will become effective to lower the shirring blade, the carrier then forcing the supporting pin 24 downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 4. To accomplish this purpose the end of the lever 25 remote from the shoe 28 has secured thereto a plate 49 having a recess in its free end provided with an inclined surface 50 which is adapted to be engaged by an adjacent edge of the transmission link 45. In the inoperative position of the mechanism, said edge of the link 45 engages the outer extremity of the surface 50, but when said link is moved to an operative position, in a manner which will presently appear, said link moving in a hori- Zontal plane and inwardly along the surface 50 to the inner end of the recess in said plate 49 will lift the adjacent end of the lever 25 from the position of Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 4, thus lowering the shoe 28 to permit the shirring blade to assume its operative position. Inasmuch as the operating edge of the link 45 must always engage the inner end of the recess in the plate 49 to rock the lever 25 sufficiently to permit of the movement of the shirring blade to its operative position, the plate 49 is adjustably mounted upon the lever 25 by means of the screw and slot connections 5I soas to compensate for variations in adjustment of the movable stop 42 when desiring to alter the width of the plaits or folds in the fabric. Thus when an adjustment is to be made, the movable stop 42 is rst secured in the .desired position of adjustment and the link 45 is then moved over so that its pivot 41 will engage said stop and, With the plate 49 loosened at this time, the latter is shifted back and forth longitudinally of the arm of the lever 25 upon which it is mounted until the inner end of the recess in said plate contacts the edge ofthe link 45, as shown in the operated position of Fig. 4.

The parts being now adjusted for the desired operation, the machine may be started and when a shirring operation is to be accomplished the link is thrown over to its then determined operating position in the following manner. A lever 52 is pivotally mounted at 53 beneath the bed plate lil with the Short arm 54 of said lever in contact with the edge of the link 45 opposed to that which engages the plate 49. This lever is maintained in the normal position of Fig. 3 by means of a spring 55 connected at one end of said short arm 54 and at its other end to the undersurface of the bed plate lll. To the extremity of the long arm of the lever 52, there is connected a depending operating rod 56 the lower `end of which may be connected to a foot treadle (not shown) or any other suitable mechanism for exerting a downward pull upon said lever by the operator of the machine. When such a pull is exerted, the lever 52 assumes the position of Fig. 4 and in s'o doing the short arm 54 of said lever throws the transmission link 45 from the full line inoperative position of Fig. 1 to the dotted lineposition thereof. In so doing, the edge of the link 45 engaging the inclined surface 50 raises the long arm of the lever 25 and lowers the opposite end of said lever so that the spring22 will become effective to force the shirring blade into operative position. At the same time, the pivot 41 of the transmission link is moved from its position wherein it coincides with the fulcrum 38 to a position offset therefrom with the result that the oscillations of the member 31 become eiective to reciprocate the link 45 and, through the lever 30 and the operating member 20, actuate the shirring blade. As long as a shirring operation is desired, the lever 52 is maintained by the operator in its operated position and when a cessation of said shirring operation is to be accomplished the downward pull upon the lever 52 is released, whereupon the springs 48 and 55 will become effective to restore the transmission link 45 and the lever 52, respectively, to their inoperative positions. I n moving away from the plate 49 of the lever 25, the link 45 permits said lever to restore to its normal position under the influence of the spring 29. The shoe 28 of said lever being thus lifted, raises the supporting pin 24 which again contacts the underside of the carrier I8 and raises it with the shirring blade to the inoperative position of the latter, against the tension of the spring 22.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sewing machine, the combination with the bed plate thereof, and a shaft below said plate for controlling the operation of the fabric feeding mechanism of the machine; of a shirring member mounted above said plate for cooperation with the needle of the machine, `a pivoted carriage for said shirring member, a movable support extending through said bed plate for maintaining said carriage in a raised position While said shirring member is inactive, a release for said support suspended below said bed plate and which maintains the support in its operative position and permits movement thereof to an inoperative position relative to said carriage, means to urge said carriage and shirring member into cooperative relation to a fabric being fed to said needle when said support moves to its inoperative position, and a mechanism supported below said bed plate and controlled from said shaft to operate said shirring member in the inoperative position of said support.

2. In a sewing machine, a shirring member having movementsI to operative and inoperative positions relative to. the needle of the machine, a releasable support for maintaining said shirring member in its inoperative position, an actuating element for said shirring member, a continuously operating control member, a transmission between said control member and said actuating element unaffected by the continuous operation of the former while said shirring member is inoperative, means to render said transmission operative, and means actuated by said transmission to release said support to allow said shirring member to move to its operative po-sition.

3. In a sewing machine, a shirring member having movements to operative and inoperative positions relative to the needle of the machine, a releasable support for maintaining said shirring member in its inoperative position, an actuating element for said shirring member, a continuously operating control member, a transmission between said control member and said actuating element unaffected by the continuous operation of the former while said shirring member is inoperative, means to render said transmission operative, means actuated by said transmission to release said support, and spring means to thereupon move said shirring member to its operative position.

4. In a sewing machine, the combination with the bed plate thereof, and a shaft below said plate for controlling the operation of the fabric feeding mechanism of the machine; of a shirring member mounted above said plate for cooperation with the needle of the machine, an oscillatory element connected to said shirring member and extending through said plate, a support also extending through said plate to maintain said shirring member in a raised position when the same is inactive, a release for said support pivoted beneath said plate and having an inclined surface, a lever pivoted beneath said plate for operating said oscillatory element, a control member continuously driven by said shaft, a xed and a movable stop on said control member, a transmission link having a fixed pivot on said lever and a movable pivotal connection with said control member between said stops, said connection in one position thereof coinciding with the axis of oscillation of said control member, means to shift said link between said stops to offset said pivotal connection from said axis so as to move said lever about its pivot, said link thereupon engaging said inclined surface to rock said release about its pivot to permit said support to lower, and means to thereupon move said shirring member into operative position.

5. In a sewing machine, a shaft, a shirring member cooperating with the needle of said machine, a releasable support -for maintaining said shirring member in an inoperative position, a control member operated from said shaft, a transmission element actuated by said control member and inactive while said support is operative, means to operate said transmission element to release said support so that said shirring member can move to operative position, and means to thereupon operate said shirring member.

6. In a sewing machine, a shaft, a shirring member cooperating with the needle of said machine, a releasable support for maintaining said shirring member in an inoperative position, a contro-l member operated from said shaft, a transmission element actuated by said control member and inactive While said support is operative, means to operate said transmission element to release said support so that said shirring member can move to operative position, said transmission element being then rendered active under the iniiuence of said control member, and means operated by said transmission element to actuate said shirring member.

'7. In a sewing machine, a bed plate, a shirring member mounted above said plate in association with the needle of the machine and movable to operative and inoperative positions, a releasable support for said shirring member extending upwardly through said plate to maintain said member in an inoperative position, means to release said support to allow said shirring member to assume its operative position, and means to thereupon operate said shirring member.

8. In a sewing machine, a bed plate, a shirring member mounted above said plate in association with the needle of the machine and movable to operative and inoperative positions, a releasable support for said shirring member extending upwardly through said plate to maintain said member in an inoperative position, means beneath said plate to release said support so that saidl shirring member will assume its operative position, and means also below said plate and including an element extending therethrough for operating said shirring member after the release of said support.

9. In a sewing machine, a bed plate, a shirring member above said plate, a carrier for said shirring member, a pin slidable in said plate to support said carrier and shirring member in an inoperative position, means to release said pin from its supporting position, means to thereupon move said carrier and shirring member to operative position, and means to actuate said shirring member While in its operative position.

10. In a sewing machine, a. shirring member cooperating With the needle of said machine, a releasable support for maintaining said shirring member in an inoperative position, means to release said support so that said shirring member can move to operative position, and means to thereupon :operate said shirring member.

WILLIAM T. LEONARD. 

